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Joachim Carvalho Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai?
 Some
might say it was untimely burst but the truth is that at any other time
it would just have been ignored by both the politicians and the media.
It got highlighted only because of the magnitude of the cricketers
achievement. In a country where sports is not a culture and where the
politicians try to ride on the back of the players only criticism at
such moments could make them act.
As
the nation was celebrating and the Twenty20 World Cup winners were being
showered with money and bounties an apparent sour note was struck by the
Indian Men’s hockey coach Joachim Carvalho. He accused the State
governments and a central minister of giving step motherly treatment to
the hockey players who had recently played their hearts out in winning
the Asia Cup held in Chennai.
Further, the national coach threatened to go on a hunger strike along
with the four hockey players from Karnataka who were the first to raise
this issue. For the record, immediately after the India victory in South
Africa the Karnataka Chief Minister announced a cash prize of Rs. Five
lakhs each for Robin Uthappa and Venkatesh Prasad the bowling coach of
the victorious team. While expressing his grouse Carvalho was clarified
that he understood that what was being given to the cricketers was well
deserved and their achievement was a big thing for Indian sport but he
objected to the fact that the achievement of the hockey players was
ignored.
Reacting to the threat the Karnataka Chief Minister announced cash
reward for the state players who were members of the Asia up winning
squad but the whole issue has once again made the treatment of sports
and sportsmen a subject for discussion. The politicians are known to
recognize which side of the bread is buttered and they know that nothing
in India matches the fan following of cricket. This explains how the
Kerala government has found the excuse of Robin Uthappa’s mother having
been born in Kerala to lay some stake on the achievement of the
Karnataka player and his contribution by announcing Rs 5 lakhs for him
along with Sreesanth. Understandably they would like to be seen to be
part of the bigger scene. This also explains why the norm of Rs. 5
lakhs quickly came to be established irrespective of the financial
resources of the state. This happened even when it was known that apart
from the huge amount that had been won by the players as prize money
they were being additionally being given Rs. 80 lakh each by the BCCI.
However, the political leaders could not be seen to be just standing and
watching the players get richer and hence their contribution to the cash
flow.
How
these politicians and sports administrators actually treat the players
was best illustrated by the reception ceremony at the Wankede Stadium
where thousands of fans had thronged. All the players except the captain
Mahinder Singh Dhoni were made to sit on chairs behind the politicians
and the Board members. In that glorious moment of Indian cricket these
gentlemen believed that the thousands who had followed the players in
rain had come there to see them sitting on the dias!
Some
have argued that the cricket team won a World Cup where as the hockey
team won only the Asia Cup which could not be compared in achievement.
But the point is that for a country that starves of success and
especially for a discipline in which the country has been a monarch, it
has not been easy to claw back to the road of recovery. Every effort has
to be appreciated and achievement recognized. During the Asia Cup India
beat both Pakistan and South Korea, one of the top teams of the world.
In the process, for the first time India twice beat Korea in the same
competition. The players deserved incentives and prizes. No one expects
them to be showered with the same kind of money but money there has to
be. The BCCI is rich and is not surprisingly paying Rs. 15-60 lakh per
player annually and there is no surprise that Rs. Eighty lakhs have been
given as bonus to them. One is not surprised at the Sahara Parivar
gifting houses to these players. It is a business company and will
surely get its money back in publicity that it has received but what
about the hockey players?
Carvalho has also pointed out that the Maharashtra that has rightly
richly rewarded Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar but he wondered how is it
that the government forgot that that ‘I hail from Mumbai? That Adrian
D'Souza, Gurbaj Singh and Shivendra Singh too come from the same place?’
He also reminded that 19 long years ago the Maharsahtra Governmentt had
announced to give houses to Merwyn Fernandes and him for their
contribution to hockey? Cricketers who were given houses much later were
given allotments but not Fernandes and Carvalho. Hockey achievements
happen far too few and nor is the sport a money spinner. Cricket on the
other hand is played more often with greater television coverage and fan
following. This gives the players the clout with their Board as well as
a global following. The politicians are just trying to wet their beaks
in that following.
Meanwhile, Carvalho has found support from many quarters, notably
Priyaranjan Das Munshi the Information and Broadcasting Minister and
President of the All India Football Fedeeration. In fact, many believe
that this indeed was the most opportune time to expose the politicians
and that when sports had taken center stage they could be made to do a
little for the sportspersons from other discipline. | 
